Article carrier

ABSTRACT

A basket style article carrier having side and end walls and an initially open bottom wall is moved continuously after being moved into enveloping relation with respect to a continuously moving group of articles by loading the articles into the carrier through the bottom. The carrier is provided with one or more registering apertures in its side and bottom walls, the registering apertures being disposed to engage synchronous machine elements which enter these apertures and serve to maintain the carrier side walls in transverse alignment and also to maintain the bottom wall in a desired positional relationship relative to the side walls so as to condition the carrier for closing its bottom wall.

United States Patent 11 1 Forrer ARTICLE CARRIER [75] Inventor:

[73] Assignee: The Mead Corporation, Dayton,

Homer W. Forrer, .lonesboro, Ga.

Ohio

[22] Filed: Nov. 5, 1971 [21] Appl. N0.: 195,976

[52] US. Cl 206/167, 206/170, 206/175,

[51] Int. Cl 865d 75/00, 865d 5/48 [58] Field of Search.....'. 220/113, 115, 107; 229/40; 53/48, 49

[56] References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS 2,933,870 4/1960 Gentry 53/48 3,111,797 11/1963 Englander et a1 53/48 3,334,783 8/1967 Plaxico 220/113 3,386,570 6/1968 Lock 220/115 3,670,950 6/1972 Rossi 220/115 3,698,151 10/l972 Arneson 53/48 Primary Examiner-William 1. Price Assistant Examiner-Stephen Marcus Attorney, Agent, or FirmWalter M. Rodgers [5 7] ABSTRACT A basket style article carrier having side andend walls and an initially open bottom wall is moved continuously after being moved into enveloping relation with respect to a continuously moving group of articles by loading the articles into the carrier through the bot tom. The carrier is provided with one or more registering apertures in its side and bottom walls, the registering apertures being disposed to engage synchronous machine elements which enter these apertures and serve to maintain the carrier side walls in transverse alignment and also to maintain the bottom wall in a desired positional relationship relative to the side walls so as to condition the carrier for closing its bottom wall.

3 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUH 4 1974 SHEEI 1 OF 2 Z 4-2 06% :1 man a Y mm W m m w 5 6 m n m W ARTICLE CARRIER A continuously moving basket style article carrier disposed about a continuously moving group of articles and having bottom panels depending downwardly from the bottom edges of the side walls is supported on a sword-like element which directly takes the weight of the articles and underneath which the carrier bottom panels are folded into overlapping relation and then locked together in order to complete the carrier. The bottom panels of such a carrier cannot be closed properly unless the various carton elements are correctly oriented with respect to each other.

According to one form of the invention the side walls of a carrier are provided with registering apertures for receiving synchronously movable machine elements so as to maintain the side walls in transverse alignment while the carrier and its associated articles are moving in a direction longitudinally of the carrier and at least one registering aperture is formed in a bottom wall panel for receiving a synchronously movable machine element whereby the bottom wall panel is held in a desired positional relation relative to the side walls in which relationship closure of the bottom wall may be readily effected.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a completely set-up but unloaded carrier formed according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is 'a plan view ofthe unitary blank from which the carrier of FIG. 1 is formed;

FIG. 3 is a plan view ofa carrier made from the blank of FIG. 2 but showing the carrier in collapsed condition and with its bottom panels open;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the outfeed end of a machine which is specially adapted to perform a packaging operation using the carrier of this invention;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the near side of the outfeed end of the machine shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side view of the arrangement shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken of the near side of the outfeed end of the machine as taken along the line designated 7-7 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is an end view of acarrier constructed from the blank shown in FIG. 2 but wherein the bottom wall panels are shown in their open positions;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a blank formed according to a modification of the invention, and in which FIG. 10 is an end view of a carrier formed from the blank of FIG. 9 and in which the bottom panels are open.

The carton as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 is specially constructed according to this invention and comprises a side wall 1 to thebottom edge 2 of which a bottom wall panel 3 is foldably joined. A plurality of locking tabs 4 are formed along an edge of bottom wall panel 3. End wall panel 5 is foldably joined to an end edge of side wall 1 along a fold line 6 while at the other end of the carrier an end wall panel 7 is foldably joined to side wall 1 along fold line 8. A riser panel 9 is foldably joined to end wall panel 5 along fold line 10 and a similar riser panel 11 is foldably joinedto end wall panel 7 along fold line 12.

The handle structure of the carrier comprises an outer handle panel 13 foldably joined to riser panel 9 along fold line 10 and provided with a hand gripping aperture 14. Partition strips designated by the numerals 15, 16, and 17 are interconnected between side wall 1 and handle panel 13 and are of conventional construction. Reinforcing panel 18 having a hand gripping aperture I9 is foldably joined to handle panel 13 along fold line 20. An outer handle panel 21 is foldably joined along medial fold line 22 to the top edge of handle panel 13. Hand gripping aperture 23 is formed in handle panel 21 and a reinforcing panel 24 is foldably joined to handle panel 21 along a fold line 25 and is provided with a hand gripping aperture 26. Reinforcing panels 18 and 24 are foldably joined together along their top edges by a fold line 27.

A plurality of conventional strips designated by the numerals 28, 29 and 30 interconnect handle panel 21 and the side wall of the carrier designated by the numeral 31. For a more detailed description of the partition elements reference may be had to US. Pat. application Ser. No. 196,l00 filed Nov. 5, 1971.

End wall panel 32 is foldably joined along fold line 33 to side wall 31 and riser panel 34 is foldably joined to end wall panel 32 along fold line 35. Similarly end wall panel 36 at the other end of the carrier is foldably joined to side wall 31 along fold line 37 and riser panel 38 is foldably joined to end wall panel 36 along fold line 39. Bottom wall panel 40 is foldably joined to side wall 31 along fold line 41 and is provided with a plurality of retaining tabs 42.

The blank of FIG. 2 is glued and its various panels manipulated to form the complete collapsed carrier as is shown in FIG. 3. For a complete explanation of these gluing and folding operations reference may be had to US. application Ser. No. l96,l00 filed Nov. 5, I971.

Briefly stated, the handle panels 13 and 21 are given an application of glue as are the reinforcing panels 18 and 24. Thereafter reinforcing panels 18 and 24 are folded upwardly and toward the left to become adhered to the inner surfaces of handle panels 13 and 21. An application of glueis then made to the riser panels 9, 34, 11 and 38 at the portions thereof adjacent fold lines 22 and 27 and these panels are then folded inwardly along fold lines 10, 35, 12 and 39 respectively. Thereafter an application of glue is made to the exposed areas of the riser panels 9, 34, 11 and 38 and to the inner surfaces of reinforcing panels 18 and 24 following which side wall 1 and all elements of the carrier disposed above the fold lines 22 and 27 are elevated and folded forwardly. Upon completion of this folding operation the carrier appears in collapsed form as shown in FIG. 3.

A underneath the articles and locked in position while the articles are resting on a sword S." The carrier then appears in completed and loaded form as indicated at P" in FIG. 4.

As is best shown in FIG. 4 a machine for use with a carrier constructed according to this invention comprises a hopper structure generally designated by the numeral 44 in which a stack of collapsed carrier blanks in the condition shown in FIG. 3 and designated by the numeral C are disposed. These blanks are withdrawn by suitable feeder means in sequence and are moved into set-up condition and then lowered in sequence into enveloping relationship relative to the groups of articles moving from right to left medially of the machine. For a complete description of the overall machine of FIG. 1 reference may be had to US. application Ser. No. 196,560 filed Nov. 8, 1971 now US. Pat. No. 3,747,294.

Once a carrier C is lowered into enveloping relation relative to a group of articles the bottom wall panels 40 and 3 are folded underneath the sword S as best shown in FIG. 7. An inspection of FIGS. 2 and 7 shows that fold line 41 defines the lower left hand corner of the carton and in FIG. 7 this fold line is at approximately the level of thebottom surface of sword S. In like fashion the fold line 2 is disposed in FIG. 7 at approximately the level of the lower surface of sword S. Since the carrier is completely formed except for its bottom wall, it is obvious that it may be lowered to the position shown in FIG. 7 because the lower edges of end wall panels 5, 7, 32 and 36 are disposed at a level at least as high as the upper surface of sword S, FIG. 7 being a view along line 77 in FIG. 4. For this reason the end walls are sometimes referred to herein as cutaway. Before the locking tabs 4 can be driven into the openings defined by retaining tabs 42, it is necessary to insure that the locking tabs are in proper registry with their associated retaining tabs. This registration is effected according to this invention while the article group including the carrier and associated bottles are moved at high speed from right to left by the pusher elements 45 mounted on continuous chain 46 disposed about sprocket 47 and another sprocket not shown. Sprocket 47 is rotatable on shaft 49 in known manner. In accordance with this invention, the side walls of the carrier such as l and 31 are provided with side registering apertures and their associated tabs which are designated in the drawings by the numerals Al -A6.

For entering the apertures such as Al, A2, A3 formed in sidewall 1, a plurality of probes designated by the numeral 51 are mounted in spaced relation on the endless element 52 which is supported by rotatable sprockets 53 and 48 mounted in any suitable manner. Thus with endless element 52 moving in synchronism with the other machine elements and with its working reach 55 moving at the same speed as the pushers 45, the side wall I is held in a desired position relative to the other panels of this carton and with respect to the various machine elements because of the registration of probes 51 in apertures Al, A2 and A3.

In order to insure that side wall 31 is in transverse alignment with the side wall 1, suitable probes are arranged to enter side registering apertures A4, A5, and A6 formed in the bottom portion of side wall 31. By forming the apertures in the bottom portion of the side wall and close to fold line 41, the position of fold line 41 is securely fixed and the chance that the side wall might yield during folding of bottom panel 40 and allow the fold line 41 to shift position is avoided as might be the case if the apertures were located at points remote from fold line 41. In FIG. 7 these probes are shown and are designated by the same numerals as are the corresponding probes on the other side of the carrier, only one system of probes being shown in FIG. 5. Thus with the two side registering means 51, 52 moving in unison, the carrier side walls 1 and 31 are held in secure transverse alignment. An inspection of FIG. 2 shows that apertures Al-A3 are located in the lower part of side wall I in an area defined by fold line 2 and an imaginary projection of the bottom edges of end wall panels 5 and 7. Stated otherwise these apertures are below the bottom edges of the end walls. In like fashion apertures A4-A6 are below the bottom edges of end wall panels 32 and 36.

In the drawings apertures Al-A6 are shown more or less aligned with tabs 4. Actually these apertures could be located to one side of the center line of tabs 4 and 42 as viewed in FIG. 2 because the probes 51 are disposed at a level below the bottoms of the bottles B as shown in FIG. 7 and thus move under the bottles and avoid collision therewith because the bottles are supported by sword S during a locking operation. Since the side walls and their registering apertures Al-A6 must be disposed at the level shown inFIG. 7 to accommodate probes 51 without colliding with and breaking the bottles B, it is clear that this temporary elevated position of the bottles causes the bottoms of the bottles to occupy positions at the level of the top surface of the sword S on which the bottles are disposed and at approximately the level of the bottom edges of end wall panels 5, 32, 7 and 36 which as is clear from FIGS. 2, 3 and 9 must be above the level of the bottom edges 2 and 41 of the side walls in order to allow the carton to move downwardly to a level sufficiently low to align the apertures AI-A6 with the probes and thereby to allow the probes to move under the bottles B.

For the purpose of insuringa desired positional relationship of the carton bottom wall panel 40 with reference to the side walls 1 and 31, a bottom registering aperture A7 is formed in bottom wall panel 40 near leading edge 40a thereof and this aperture receives a bottom registering probe 56 rotatably mounted on and supported by a shaft 57 driven in synchronism with the machine. As is apparent in FIG. 7,'probe 56 is provided with a radially extending-portion "58 which enters the opening'A7 and because bottom registering element 56 is moving in synchronism with the machine, the bottom wall panel 40 is held in a predetermined positional relationship relative to the side walls 1 and 31. When so held, locking wheel fingers generally designated by the numeral 59 and disposed so as to drive the locking tabs 4 into the respective openings defined by retaining tabs 42. Preferably opening A7 should be slightly ahead and near leading edge 40a of or to the right of tabs 4 and 42 as viewed in FIG. 2. After the bottom wall panel 40 is interlocked with bottom wall panel 3, the carrier C and its associated articles B move from right to left as viewed in FIG. 4 to occupy the position designated at P where the carrier is complete and off of the sword S.

The modified blank shown in FIG. 9 is identical to the blank of FIG. 2 except that in FIG. 9 the bottom panels 3 and 40 are of equal width so that these panels overlap and are locked medially of the carrier. The same numerals are used in FIG. 9 as are used in FIG. 2. Of course the locking fingers 59 as shown in FIG. 7 would be shifted to the left as viewed in that figure and an additional probe 56 would be provided to enter aperture A7 in panel 3 as is obvious. The probes 56 would be shifted as required and as is obvious in order to cooperate with a carton formed from the blank of FIG. 9.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

I claim:

1. An article carrier having an open top and which is loaded through its initially open bottom while being moved continuously along a predetermined path includes a handle, an end wall foldably joined to each end of said handle medially of each end wall, a side wall foldably joined at its ends to the side edges of said end walls on each side of said handle to form a tubular structure for enveloping a group of vertically disposed articles arranged in aligned parallel rows, a bottom panel foldably joined to the bottom edge of each of said walls and initially depending therefrom and folded into overlapping relation after said group of articles has been inserted and wherein the improvement comprises a plurality of locking tabs formed in one of said bottom panels, a plurality of corresponding locking apertures formed in the other of said bottom panels, at least one side registering aperture formed in at least one of said side walls near the bottom edge thereof and at a level below the bottom edges of the end walls for receiving a synchronously movable machine element thereby to aid in establishing a fixed positional relationship between said one side wall and the opposite bottom panel while the articles are temporarily supported above said side registering aperture, and a bottom registering aperture formed in said opposite bottom panel near the leading edge thereof and disposed to receive a continuously and synchronously movable registering probe for establishing and maintaining a predetermined and fixed positional relationship between said bottom panels.

2. A carrier according to claim 1 wherein registering apertures are formed in both of said bottom panels near the leading edges thereof. Y

3. A carrier according to claim 1 wherein registering apertures are formed in both of said side walls. 

1. An article carrier having an open top and which is loaded through its initially open bottom while being moved continuously along a predetermined path includes a handle, an end wall foldably joined to each end of said handle medially of each end wall, a side wall foldably joined at its ends to the side edges of said end walls on each side of said handle to form a tubular structure for enveloping a group of vertically disposed articles arranged in aligned parallel rows, a Bottom panel foldably joined to the bottom edge of each of said walls and initially depending therefrom and folded into overlapping relation after said group of articles has been inserted and wherein the improvement comprises a plurality of locking tabs formed in one of said bottom panels, a plurality of corresponding locking apertures formed in the other of said bottom panels, at least one side registering aperture formed in at least one of said side walls near the bottom edge thereof and at a level below the bottom edges of the end walls for receiving a synchronously movable machine element thereby to aid in establishing a fixed positional relationship between said one side wall and the opposite bottom panel while the articles are temporarily supported above said side registering aperture, and a bottom registering aperture formed in said opposite bottom panel near the leading edge thereof and disposed to receive a continuously and synchronously movable registering probe for establishing and maintaining a predetermined and fixed positional relationship between said bottom panels.
 2. A carrier according to claim 1 wherein registering apertures are formed in both of said bottom panels near the leading edges thereof.
 3. A carrier according to claim 1 wherein registering apertures are formed in both of said side walls. 